嘒

嘒 U+5612, 嘒 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5612 ← 嘑 [U+5611] CJK Unified Ideographs 嘓 → [U+5613]

Translingual

Han character

嘒 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+11, 14 strokes, cangjie input 口手十一 (RQJM) or 口手十尸 (RQJS), four-corner 6507₁, composition ⿰口彗)

1. tiny
2. chirping, whistling
3. shrill sound, sharp

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 205, character 27
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4196
• Dae Jaweon: page 428, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 672, character 8
• Unihan data for U+5612

Chinese

trad.		嘒
simp. #		嘒
alternative forms		嚖

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (彗) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
櫘	*sqʰʷeds
彗	*sɢʷeds, *ɢʷeds, *sɢʷids
篲	*sɢʷeds
鏏	*sɢʷeds
槥	*sɢʷeds, *ɢʷeds
轊	*sɢʷeds, *ɢʷeds
熭	*ɢʷeds, *ɢʷad
嘒	*qʰʷeːds
暳	*qʰʷeːds
嚖	*qʰʷeds
慧	*ɡʷeːds
蔧	*sɢʷids
雪	*sqʰʷed

Etymology

“small”

For this particular sense, Sagart (2021) modifies Baxter and Sagart's (2014) Old Chinese reconstruction to *Cə-pʰˤut and speculates a connection to 勃 (OC *bɯːd), 彗 (OC *sɢʷeds, *ɢʷeds, *sɢʷids), all potentially from to a root relating to "dust".

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): huì (hui⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄟˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wai³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: huì
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄟˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: huèi
    • Wade–Giles: hui⁴
    • Yale: hwèi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: huey
    • Palladius: хуэй (xuej)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu̯eɪ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: wai³
    • Yale: wai
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wai³
    • Guangdong Romanization: wei³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɐi̯³³/

---

• Middle Chinese: xwejH

Rime
Character	嘒
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	曉 (32)
Final (韻)	齊 (40)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	呼惠切
Baxter	xwejH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/hweiH/
Pan Wuyun	/hʷeiH/
Shao Rongfen	/xuɛiH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/hwɛjH/
Li Rong	/xueiH/
Wang Li	/xiweiH/
Bernard Karlgren	/xiweiH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	huì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fai3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*qʷʰˤi[t]-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qʰʷeːds/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	嘒
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	huì
Middle Chinese	‹ xwejH ›
Old Chinese	/*qʷʰˁi[t]-s/
English	to chirp (of insects)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	嘒
Reading #	1/1
No.	5471
Phonetic component	彗
Rime group	祭
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	嘒
Old Chinese	/*qʰʷeːds/

Definitions

嘒

1. ^† (onomatopoeia) chirp, shrill, whistle

   • 菀彼柳斯、鳴蜩嘒嘒。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     菀彼柳斯、鸣蜩嘒嘒。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Wǎn bǐ liǔ sī, míngtiáo huì huì. [Pinyin]

     Luxuriant grow those willows, and the cicadas [on them] go hui-hui.

   • 鼓淵淵、嘒嘒管聲。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     鼓渊渊、嘒嘒管声。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Gǔ yuān yuān, huì huì guǎn shēng. [Pinyin]

     Deep is the sound of the hand-drums and drums; shrilly sound the flutes.

2. ^† very small

   • 嘒彼小星、三五在東。肅肅宵征、夙夜在公、寔命不同。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     嘒彼小星、三五在东。肃肃宵征、夙夜在公、寔命不同。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Huì bǐ xiǎoxīng, sān wǔ zài dōng. Sùsù xiāo zhēng, sùyè zài gōng, shí mìng bùtóng. [Pinyin]

     Small are those starlets, three or five of them in the east, swiftly by night we go; in the early dawn we are with the prince. Our lot is not like hers.

Compounds

• 嘒嘒

 

Japanese

Kanji

嘒

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. sharp

Readings

• On (unclassified): けい (kei); け (ke)

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 嘒 (MC xwejH).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [çe̞(ː)] ~ [he̞(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [혜(ː)/헤(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

嘒 (eumhun 작은 소리 혜 (jageun sori hye))

1. Used only when reading Classical Chinese texts.

Vietnamese

Han character

嘒: Hán Nôm readings: tóe/toé

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• Nom Foundation